I live in St. Louis, MO, but my heart and soul hang out at the beach. I am a multi-genre, award winning writer and speaker. I am a seasoned pre-k teacher, on line writing instructor, wife, mother, Nana to eleven. Hopefully, something I say will make you smile, further your writing career, or inspire you to write from the heart, too.
billin7@juno.com. Twitter,
@WriterLindaO.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Down by the sea

My wonderful brother, John, made hundreds of these cardboard cut outs for my students. My four classes made a twenty-foot mural, and we did a unit, Down by the Sea. What fun the pre-K kids had selecting the creatures they wanted, then sounding out phonetically and using inventive spelling. Check out their printed words above the mural: star fish, octopus, turtle, sea horse, dolphin, seal. Each student painted or colored the sea animals and proudly displayed them. We sorted and classified real seashells, read many related books, and then the three year old students told a creative story about one of the creatures.

We played an active game: the kids went "swimming" under the sea, and when the music stopped they had to stand by one of the creatures. When I held up the animal they were standing by, they were out and had to go to the huge, plastic, Fisher-Price boat. Oh, you should have heard the laughter as that boat filled up.

A big heartfelt thank you to my brother for making this a fun project for the kids and for giving me a brief reprieve from my grieving over the real sea creatures suffering from the horrendous oil spill in the Gulf. My friend Mary said, "You know, God is crying right along with all of us." Pray for a swift solution.

I am an online writing instructor at http://Coffeehouseforwriters.com/our-instructors/"Life is an echo.What you send out, comes back.What you sow, you reap.What you give, you get.What you see in others,exists in you. Remember, life is an echo.It always gets back to you.So, give GOODNESS."~Zig Zagler